First created by Su Dongpo, a well-known poet from the Song Dynasty, when he served as a local official of Hangzhou. The dish is made from belly pork which is cut into four pieces and first briefly boiled and then rinsed. Next, the pork is put into a pot with sugar, soy sauce, onion, ginger and rice wine, the pot is sealed, and the pork is cooked in the oven until tender (about two hours). Finally, it is transferred to a bowl, the juices from the pot strained over the meat, and the bowl covered and put inside a steamer and steamed for at least two hours.

Prepared with fresh and alive grass carps from the West Lake, this dish integrates delicious, sweet and sour tastes, with tender fish meat, which tastes just like crabmeat. The fish is first starved for 2 days in order to get rid of the mud smell.

Jiao Hua Ji (Beggar's Chicken): Recipe

Legend has it that a Hangzhou beggar invented "Beggar's chicken". The story goes that because the beggar had no stove, he wrapped the stolen chicken in clay and baked it in a hole in the ground. To cook the chicken, firstly the organs of the chicken are cleaned, and Chinese herbs are inserted. Then the chicken is wrapped around lotus leafs, and wrapped around in clay and baked over low heat for hours. The taste of the chicken is aromatic, tasty, and tender.